➤ All-Star Fruit Racing, the review 🎮

There are already many arcade racing games, and each of the newcomers at the time of their debut must inevitably deal with the sacred monster of the genre: Mario Kart. Not a small comparison, and not one of those from which it is easy to get out unscathed: Mario Kart 8, the latest iteration of the franchise, has now set standards that he will probably have a hard time surpassing in the future. However, this does not mean that there is no room for the peaceful coexistence of competitors, especially if they have something original and personal to offer: it is the case of All-Star Fruit Racing, produced by an independent Spanish team, 3DClouds.com. We tried the early access version for PC at the time, and now we're back for the final verdict on the PS4 version, given that the developers have also managed to take care of a more than discreet port for the main consoles in circulation. As you read the review try to sip a fruit juice, you will soon understand why.

Arcade and original gameplay: fruit is free

Have you all seen the 2012 Disney movie Wreck-It Ralph, directed by Rich Moore? You should, if only for the fact that it is set in the world of video games. Anyway, some of you will remember that the friend of the protagonist, Vanellope, lives in a video game called Sugar Rush, a racing game based on karts, colorful girls and environments completely dominated by sweets. We like to think that All-Star Fruit Racing be inspired at least a little by the world of Vanellope, because it really remembers him a lot: the main difference is that the main theme is not represented by sweets but by fruit. Every single girl in the race is inspired by a particular fruit and sports not only a clothing dedicated to it, but the same vehicle in size, details and colors perfectly remembers its main characteristics. Thanks to the good variety of fruit existing in the world, we therefore find ourselves with a roaster consisting of 22 characters, ten of which are immediately available to take to the track and the last twelve that will be unlocked by completing competitions and certain missions. But if you think that the invasion of fruit at the base of All-Star Fruit Racing is limited to its protagonists, you are wrong: it is also linked to the five islands that host the circuits (for a total of 21 tracks) and the same game mechanics.

And this is where the main differences emerge between All-Star Fruit Racing and any other arcade racing game, including Mario Kart: to begin with, there are no upgrades in the proper sense of the term, that is, you will not be able to collect a chest or a block from the ground. that guarantees you a certain tool with which to hinder your opponents. Players must earn their power ups by collecting lots of fruit scattered around the track, you will notice it immediately because it floats inside colored bubbles: by collecting it you can load your own tanks, indicated at the bottom right of the screen, each of which is prepared activation of a special power. By recovering so many kiwis, for example, it is possible to perform a short sprint in speed with which to distance the opponents, while other types of fruit generate shields, throw snowballs, release a sticky substance that forces opponents to slow down, and so on. The basic weapons that can be activated are many, but the possibility of combining them by mixing the collected fruit is even more interesting: having four tanks available, it is possible to choose to exclude some and mix the others, thus obtaining different combinations of fruits and powers; by loading all the available slots to the maximum, however, the special and definitive move of the character used at that moment is activated, and varies according to each of them. And this is where the accounts start not to come back perfectly, because the final special moves are not balanced at all: the missile in search of Anny's Pineazooka ability (a pineapple missile!) Will always be more useful and efficient than Cora's Cocostrike. , a sort of giant coconut improvised bowling ball.

PlayStation 4 Trophies

The All-Star Fruit Racing Platinum Trophy is pretty simple to get, but it will take at least 20 hours of gameplay due to a specific trophy that requires you to spend this exact amount of hours on the track. The remaining trophies are unlocked by completing career mode, playing a few games with friends and winning (a few) online races: nothing too complex, just a little patience.

A lot of style, but not a few problems

All-Star Fruit racing is a fun and fast game, visually also quite graceful and without particularly evident smudges, as well as valid from a technical point of view: the fact remains that it also has obvious problems. And it makes you look up at the fact that these defects come out right where it should excel, not only in balancing its original game weapons, but in the very use of fruit-related bonuses: even the basic moves are anything but simple to remember or intuitive to use, and things are no better when combining them during a run. The difficulty points decidedly upwards from the beginning, and it is not very practical to remember how much fruit of which type we have collected, in addition to its possible combinations with the other available to us in the tanks. Also questionable is the fact that he wanted to limit the use of drifting, which basically guarantee a decent boost in speed, but the abuse overheats the tires and engines and ends up penalizing the player: the mechanics do not bring who knows what benefits to a gameplay which would like to be technical, but which in many cases turns out to be simplistic. Even the artistic direction is not all roses: good for the many customizations of the karts, also good for the thematic variety of the circuits, but the protagonists remain, despite their "fruitful style", all in all anonymous if not decidedly forgettable, in some cases even not very pretty. On the verses and cries they throw during the competitions we spread a merciful veil directly.

Comment

Tested version PlayStation 4 Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop Price 39,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

7.0

Readers (4)

6.8

Your vote

All-Star Fruit Racing is a discreet arcade racing game: it features many game modes, including career, customizable games, time trials, local and online multiplayer; on his side he also has an original and very nice artistic direction, although in the long run he also demonstrates a good dose of banality and less inspired choices than others. The real problem that does not allow the title of 3DClouds.com to excel is the direction taken in the gameplay, which would like to be technical and as original as the overall glance, but it is neither one nor the other. On the contrary, it ends up creating a jumble of powers and special moves that is impractical, not very immediate, unbalanced and decidedly confusing. A bit like a mix of fruit served on the table by a messy chef: maybe it will also be nice to look at, but to digest a little less.